JUDGMENT :

MAHABIR SINGH SINDHU, J.

1. A.V. Dicey in his monumental work “The Law of the Constitution” Ist Edition, Macmillan and co., while explaining the rule of law, stated as under:-

“With us every official, from the Prime Minister down to a constable or a collector of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without legal justification as any other citizen. The Reports abound with cases in which officials have been brought before the Courts and made in their personal capacity liable to punishment or to the payment of damages for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority.”

India, being an ardent supporter of the rule of law, hosted an event of the International Commission of Jurists comprising 185 judges, practicing lawyers and teachers of the law from 53 countries across the world (Declaration of Delhi), on January 5-10, 1959 and Committee on “The Executive and The Rule of Law”, inter alia, came to the following conclusions:-

“Clause VI:

A citizen who suffers injury as a result of illegal acts of the Exec